Commonly, cans, bottles, or other containers for soft drinks or other beverages are marketed in packages comprising four, six, eight, or twelve containers in machine-applied carriers made from single sheets of resilient polymeric material, such as low density polyethylene. The carriers are made, as by die-cutting, so as to have band segments defining container-receiving apertures.
Although such polymeric carriers have many advantages, particularly as compared to predominantly paperboard carriers, such polymeric carriers have some shortcomings. A major shortcoming is that such polymeric carriers do not provide expansive surfaces for pricing, barcoding, or other labelling of the packages.
As exemplified in Poupitch U.S. Pat. No. 2,874,835 and Poupitch U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,136, it has been known to employ separate wire or other handles with such polymeric carriers. Although handles as known heretofore are useful with such polymeric carriers, such known handles do not provide suitable labelling surfaces.
This invention has resulted from efforts to provide an improved package for cans, bottles, or other containers for soft drinks or other beverages.